UOAFA Europey League 2016/17
The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League is the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the eighth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played between [[Eye-axe|'Ajax']] and [[Moneychester United|'Manchester United']] at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden, and won by [[Moneychester United|'Manchester United']], their 1st title. With this victory, they joined Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea as the only clubs to have won all 3 major European trophies (European Champion Clubs' Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, and the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners' Cup). [[Moneychester United|'Manchester United']] qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup. Sevilla had won the last three tournaments but were unable to defend their title, having reached the knockout phase of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. Group stage Main article: 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2016, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 48 teams were drawn into 12 groups of 4, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the 8 third-placed teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage. The match-days are 15 September, 29 September, 20 October, 3 November, 24 November, and 8 December 2016. A total of 21 national associations are represented in the group stage. Astana, Celta Vigo, Dundalk, Hapoel, Konyaspor, Mainz 05, Manchester United, Nice, Olympiakos, Osmanlıspor, Sassuolo, Southampton, and Zorya Luhansk made their debut appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage (although Celta Vigo and Olympiakos had appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage and Manchester United and Olympiakos had already disputed the UEFA Europa League knockout phase after a third place in the UEFA Champions League group stage). Group A Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group B Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group C Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group D Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group E Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group F Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group G Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group H Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group I Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group J Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group K Source: UEFA (A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated. Group L Key: (A) = advances to a further round (E) = eliminated Knockout Stage Main article: 2016–17 UEFA Europa League knockout stage In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows: * In the draw for the round of 32, 12 group winners and the 4 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records are seeded, and 12 group runners-up and the other 4 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other. * In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other. Qualified teams Europa League group stage winners and runners-up '' Champions League group stage 3rd placed teams Source: UEFA Round of 32 The draw for the round of 32 was held on 12 December 2016. The first legs were played on 16 February, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 February 2017. Round of 16 The draw for the round of 16 was held on 24 February 2017. The first legs were played on 9 March, and the second legs were played on 16 March 2017. Quarter-finals The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2017. The first legs were played on 13 April, and the second legs were played on 20 April 2017. Semi-finals The draw for the semi-finals was held on 21 April 2017. The first legs were played on 3 and 4 May, and the second legs were played on 11 May 2017. Final Main article: 2017 UEFA Europa League Final The final was played on 24 May 2017 at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.